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  #1  
Old 10-22-2009, 05:06 PM
Bob Kaplow's Avatar
Bob Kaplow Bob Kaplow is offline
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Default 45 years ago today...

I flew my first model rocket. Back then my dad was working at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Vern sent him a sample rocket (Mark) and an A.8-3 and some literature. Dad brought the stuff home for me, and I ordered a Streak and a starter set with the Scout and the wood pad with the holes for the 4 D cells. The stuff was built over the year, and on 22 October 1964 we finally went out and flew it on a 1/4A.8-4 Yup a standard sized Quarter A. Went out of sight, and we managed to find it on the grass in the part after searching for several minutes.

There hasn't been a year since that I haven't flown rockets.
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Old 10-22-2009, 05:46 PM
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That's cool, Bob. I can also remember every detail about my first rocket mail order/build/flight except for the actual date I received it. I remember taking delivery of the package on a sunny day, but having to finish mowing the yard before I was allowed to open it. Unfortunately, it was about a 3 hour job not counting trimming with hand shears, and I had just started mowing.

Was the planetarium your dad's career, or just a slice?
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Old 10-22-2009, 06:16 PM
sam_midkiff sam_midkiff is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tbzep
That's cool, Bob. I can also remember every detail about my first rocket mail order/build/flight except for the actual date I received it. I remember taking delivery of the package on a sunny day, but having to finish mowing the yard before I was allowed to open it. Unfortunately, it was about a 3 hour job not counting trimming with hand shears, and I had just started mowing.

Was the planetarium your dad's career, or just a slice?


My first rocket was a Scout, sometime in the mid sixties. Even though it was cheap, it took me a while to work up the courage to send off the money for it. I remember waiting anxiously for it to arrive, and being intensely disappointed when I opened the package and saw a paper tube, a little wood, a wire and some gauze. I was, however, much more impressed after I launched it.

Nevertheless, I'm constantly amazed that you can buy a 4gb flash drive for 9 bucks, a floppy drive with circuits, moving parts, cables, etc., for under $30, and an oversized toilet paper tube (e.g. a BT-80) costs $7. Not that a BT-80 isn't more useful than a floppy drive ..

Sam
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Old 10-22-2009, 08:08 PM
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1964? Geez, Bob - were you still in diapers? I'm several years older than you, and I was only 10 then. (I turned 11 late in the year).

Ahhh, yes, my first model rocket. It was in late spring or early summer, 1967. I had finally written to Estes Industries a few months earlier, and in response they had sent me the 1967 catalog. It was love at first sight...

So in due time, as soon as I had saved up enough money, I ordered and received my Deluxe Starter Special, 3 engines and a couple of bottles of paint (butyrate dope). Had to watch the mailbox every day for a couple of weeks, and when the box arrived (late June, right around the end of school), I had to get right out, grab it and sneak it back into the house and down to the basement...

Ohhhh myyyyy Godddd, unwrapping those rolled-up newspaper tubes and holding a real rocket engine in my hand....WOW! The look, the heft, and the smell! It was intoxicating! (And I'm not talking about the paint.) And pulling out that Astron Alpha kit (it had just been introduced) -- a real rocket kit! I remember thinking that even in the kit packaging, it was beautiful! Just look at that -- a perfectly turned balsa nose cone! And I had it! After years of dreaming about this day, I finally had my own miniature rocket that I could build and launch, with rocket engines that were scientifically designed, professionally made and had a guarantee to work. All designed with safety in mind - that was a really big deal for me. And a really cool Electro-Launch pad (in kit form) -- everything that I would need to launch it, and get it back so that I could launch it again! I kept everything out of sight, down in the basement, and went downstairs to just look at it at every opportunity for a week before I actually dared to start building. (I still do that with orders that I receive - some things never change. )

MarkII
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  #5  
Old 10-22-2009, 09:26 PM
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My dad was an optometrist by trade, but spent half a dozen years in the 60s as the Asst. Director at Adler.

I was 11 when I flew my first rocket back then.
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Old 10-23-2009, 06:13 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Kaplow

I was 11 when I flew my first rocket back then.


I read the title of the thread and was thinking that you must be a lot older than I am because it couldn't have been that many years ago that I flew my first rocket. I was also 11 (but almost 12) and it was 1962. Now I feel old.

There was another thread earlier in the week that said something about people who flew in the 60's to 80's not being able to build rockets any more. I would have replied to it but I was too busy building rockets.
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Old 10-23-2009, 07:07 AM
jflis jflis is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by billspad
I read the title of the thread and was thinking that you must be a lot older than I am because it couldn't have been that many years ago that I flew my first rocket. I was also 11 (but almost 12) and it was 1962. Now I feel old.

There was another thread earlier in the week that said something about people who flew in the 60's to 80's not being able to build rockets any more. I would have replied to it but I was too busy building rockets.


I was thinking similar thoughts... 46 years here (1963), though I was 7 at the time.

man.... LOL
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Old 10-23-2009, 08:10 AM
Rocketcrab Rocketcrab is offline
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October 17, 1968, my Astron Scout took to the sky on a 1/2A6-2. After I lit the fuse and backed off, of course. Who can forget their first time? I was 12 at the time.
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Old 10-23-2009, 08:47 AM
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The age of 11-12 must have been the age to become interested in rocketry in the 60's. I flew my first rocket at age 12 in July 1968. I remember the month because I have a very good memory but not the exact date 41 years ago.

This is not directed at Bob or anyone in particular, just a general comment but I have to ask, how is it that so many rocketeers remember the exact day they flew their first rocket from decades ago? Did I miss something back then? Was there something in the kit instructions that said "write down and always remember the day you make your first flight?" While I remember many details from my first launch very well, it was just something to do on a hot summer day like swimming or playing baseball, not a life altering event like getting married or a firstborn.

As Fred Flintstone would say, "Fellow Buffaloes, I sometimes feel like I missed out on the secret handsake or something."

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  #10  
Old 10-23-2009, 09:45 AM
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Yep, for me my first flight date was July 16, 1968. I also know the date I was introduced to model rocketry as well, but only because it was the day the first Saturn V flew (November 9, 1967). And yep, I was 11 (for both dates).

I don't remember exactly when I got my first catalog (before Christmas), or my first rocket kit(feb or mar), or the replacement after I screwed up building that one, or pretty much any other date associated with my activity in the hobby.
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